Sunday Post #159

Posted January 3, 2016 by Lola in Sunday Post / 48 Comments

sunday post

The Sunday Post is a weekly meme hosted by Kimba @ Caffeinated Book Reviewer.
It’s a chance to share News. A post to recap the past week, showcase books and things we have received and share news about what is coming up for the week on our blog.

What happened this week?

This was a nice week. I managed to relax a bit and catch up on some sleep, but I got some work done too. I wrote a few blog posts, baked a bit, gamed, read some books and put a new review opportunity live on Lola’s Blog Tours. I also made a headstart on this month’s marketing assistant work already.

On new year’s eve we stayed at home and had a nice and quiet evening. And we unpacked the presents underneath the christmas tree as we didn’t get around to do that during christams we decided to move that to New Year’s Eve. I got a large box with jigsaw puzzles and two new Amanda Lester books, we also got us some extra cake/ice pop molds for ourselves, two kitchen knifes for my boyfriend and some food.

Oh and I got my annual report from jetpack. It’s so fun to see what the most popular posts where this year. And a big thanks to my top commenters this year: Sophia Rose from Delighted Reader, SJ Pajonas, Mary Kirkland from dark Thoughts and Anna from Herding Cats and Burning Soup. And a big thanks to two of the top referring sites Caffeinated Book Reviewer and Because Reading is better Than real Life and the awesome memes they host! And thanks to everyone who visited and commented this past year! I really appreciate it!

I won an amazon gift card from Mother and Daughter Books Reviews! I was really excited to have won. I already spend the money and not on books for a chance ;). My boyfriend had seen stuff that colours your bath that he really wnated to and we couldn’t buy here, so I ordered that and a set of measuring spoons. Can you believe I don’t have measuring spoons yet? I always put a normal teaspoon and then see what i think is half a teaspoon, not very accurate I know.

Random Picture(s) of the Week

Mini Applecake
I got a small springform from my boyfriend his mother for christmas last week and I tried it out this week. I got an applecake recipe from her as well and made it twice already. The cake is pretty small with only four pieces so most of the time we ate it in one evening. It’s the perfect recipe to make when you crave something sweet late in the evening. It’s really good and I already have the recipe post scheduled for it.

jigsaw puzzles and Amanda Lester books
Jigsaw puzzles and Amanda Lester books that I got from my boyfriend. The first Amanda Lester book was one of my favourite reads of 2015, so I can’t wait to read these two. And I love making jigsaw puzzles, but I don’t make enough time for it, so this seems good motivation to pick it up again.

What did I cook for dinner this week?

This week I blogged about:

Lola’s Kitchen: Top Ten Dinner Recipes
Lola’s Ramblings: Top Ten New To Me Authors
Bookish Resolutions Challenge: December Recap
2015 New Release Challenge: fourth quarterly recap
Lola’s Ramblings: Best Books I Read in 2015
Lola’s Kitchen: Ten recipes I want to Make in 2016
My To-Be Read List #17: poll

What to expect next week on the blog:

– Lola’s Advice: How to get more Reviews for your Book
– Review: Thief of Lies (Library Jumper #1) by Brenda Drake
– Lola’s Ramblings: Ten New Releases I Want to Read in 2016
– Lola’s Kitchen: Recommend me a Recipe!
– My To-Be Read List #17: chosen book

Tours open for sign-up on Lola’s Blog Tours:

Review Opportunities:
Link by Summer Wier
A Bramble House Christmas by CJ Carmichael
Maisy and the Mystery Manor by Elizabeth Woodrum
Indestructible by Emma L Adams
Saven: Deception by Siobhan Davis
Summer Haikus by SJ PajonasNew!
Check the full list of open review opportunities here.

Cover Reveals:
None open for sign-up at the moment

Tours:
None open for sign-up at the moment

Book Haul:

JanuaryJanuary (Calendar Girl #1)
by Audrey Carlan

Format: e-copy
Source: lended to me by Berls
You can find January on Goodreads

Blurb:
It’s really simple. I needed money. A lot of money. One million dollars to be exact. The amount didn’t matter. All that mattered is that at the end of that price tag held my father’s life.

No money. No life.

The time limit was one year. On January 1st I had to pay up or my Father was going to be killed.

When you’re faced with an ultimatum like this, you do whatever you have to do.

And that’s exactly what I did.

The job…Exquisite Escorts. My role, serve as high priced arm candy to anyone that can afford the $100,000 price tag for a month of my company. Sex is optional (for me) and a 20% increase on the price.

***
Mia Saunders just barely escaped a paltry life back home in Las Vegas until she gets the call that her Father has been beaten to within an inch of his life for not paying his gambling debt. Problem is, the lone shark is her lousy, ruthless ex-boyfriend. Another guy in a long line of men she’d fallen head over heels for. Not anymore.

Mia’s mission is simple. Serve as a high-priced escort for her Aunt’s company and pay monthly against her Father’s bad debt. A month with a rich man who she doesn’t have to sleep with if she doesn’t want to? Easy money. At least that’s the way it was supposed to go.

Each installment in the Calendar Girl Serial will release every month throughout 2015. The stories will feature Mia, told from her perspective as she continues her journey as an escort to twelve clients in twelve different locations.

Warning: This book is designed for audiences 18+ due to language and graphic sexual content

ExposedExposed (Tough Justice #1)
by Carla Cassidy

Format: e-copy
Source: for review through netgalley
You can find Exposed on Goodreads

Blurb:
A new job. A new case. A new criminal… ?

Special Agent Lara Grant will do anything to get her mark – until her last undercover case, infiltrating the notorious Moretti crime ring, forced her to get close to the top. Way. Too. Close…

Now starting a new job in New York City, all Lara wants is to leave the ghosts of her past behind. Until a dramatic sniper attack leaves Lara’s face – and real name – all over the media. In the blink of an eye, her cover is blown, her identity exposed.

Then a woman’s body is found, branded with the ritual Moretti tattoo. Someone knows who Lara is… and exactly how to make her pay…

Part 1 of 8 in a chilling, high-octane FBI thriller TOUGH JUSTICE from NYT bestselling author Carla Cassidy and Tyler Anne Snell, Carol Ericson and Gail Barrett.

A Scone to Die ForA Scone to Die For (Oxford Tearoom Mysteries ~ Book 1)
by H.Y. Hanna

Format: e-copy
Source: for review through netgalley

Blurb:
When an American tourist is murdered with a scone in Gemma Rose’s quaint Oxfordshire tearoom, she suddenly finds herself apron-deep in a mystery involving long-buried secrets from Oxford’s past.

Armed with her insider knowledge of the University and with the help of four nosy old ladies from the village (not to mention a cheeky little tabby cat named Muesli), Gemma sets out to solve the mystery—all while dealing with her matchmaking mother and the return of her old college love, Devlin O’Connor, now a dashing CID detective.

But with the body count rising and her business going bust, can Gemma find the killer before things turn to custard?

Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal CrisisAmanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis (Amanda Lester, Detective #2)
by Paula Berinstein

Format: paperback
Source: christmas present from my boyfriend
You can find Amanda Lester and the Orange Crystal Crisis on Goodreads

Blurb:
If only Sherlock Holmes’s great-great-grandson weren’t such a dork . . .

There’s a new student at the Legatum Continuatum School for the Descendants of Famous Detectives and Amanda is supposed to work with him. Scapulus Holmes is a descendant of the great Sherlock and he’s crazy about her. Unfortunately she thinks he’s a dork and would rather die than have anything to do with him.

But when the kids discover a dead body encrusted with strange living crystals, Amanda realizes she needs Holmes’s help. If the crystals fall into the wrong hands they could be used for nefarious purposes, and only he knows how to protect them.

Can the detectives keep the bad guys from learning the crystals’ secrets? It would help if they could figure out who the dead body is too. Only if Amanda and Holmes can find a way to work together can they prevent a disaster, and it isn’t looking good.

Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle (Amanda Lester, Detective #3)
by Paula Berinstein

Format: paperback
Source: christmas present from my boyfriend
You can find Amanda Lester and the Purple Rainbow Puzzle on Goodreads

Blurb:
Purple rainbows, a mysterious crypt, and pots of gold . . .

Things are not going well for Amanda and the secret detective school. A priceless artifact has disappeared, a dangerous hacker is manipulating matter, and zombies are being seen all over the Lake District.

Then the real trouble starts. When her cousins go missing and her friend Clive is kidnapped, Amanda is forced to turn to someone she’d rather not deal with: her old boyfriend Scapulus Holmes. But then he vanishes too. Now’s she’s sure that arch-villain Blixus Moriarty is involved . . . or is he?

Staged to DeathStaged to Death (Caprice De Luca Mystery #1)
by Karen Rose Smith

Format: e-copy
Source: bought it with amazon gift card money
You can find Staged to Death on Goodreads

Blurb:
Cozy mystery, Book 1 in the Caprice DeLuca home-stager mystery series

Caprice DeLuca stages houses for high-end clients. When she discovers a body in the castle-mansion she staged to sell and starts asking questions, she finds herself in danger. On the way to solving the murder, Caprice’s large Italian family helps and hinders. She also finds romance with Dr. Seth Randolph. But does her brother’s partner, attorney Grant Weatherford, care about her, too? Or is he just worried she’ll get herself killed and her family will blame him?

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48 responses to “Sunday Post #159

  1. Glad you had a good New Year’s Eve and even got to open some gifts 🙂 I just stayed home, no big, exciting parties for me either.

    Congrats on winning a gift card! Winning giveaways is seriously the best.

    As for not having measuring spoon, it’s not like cooking and baking require EXACT perfect measurements, so eyeballing half a teaspoon probably never killed anyone 😛 But of course the measuring spoon do make things easier.

    Looking forward to your review of Thief of Lies! (I keep wanting to call it The Library Thief for some reason and can never remember what it’s called lol.)

    • It’s nice to stay home on new year’s eve :). And I agree winning giveaways is the best!

      Usually it’s okay if the measurements aren’t exact. It’s sometimes a bit unhandy for when I am doing recipe posts and do thing approximately, so it will be nice to have a real measuring spoon to check i write down the right measurements. And they where so cheap and colourfull I couldn’t resist buying them. You would be surprised how pricy measuring spoons are here.

      I really enjoyed Thief of Lies, it’s about libraries so I can see how you keep calling it the library thief. The title does make sense when reading the book.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #159My Profile

    • I don’t like going out on new year’s eve as I am not a fan of all the fireworks and loud sounds, so it was nice to stay home. The jigsaw puzzles I got are form nature and city pictures, but they look great. Although now I am really curious about those star wars jigsaw puzzles you got.

    • It’s always so much fun to win something. I actually won another giveaway today for a handmade bookmark, it’s definitely my lucky week :). So far I am having a good week. btw that apple cake was the late night snack I mentioned, I am making another one at the moment.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #159My Profile

    • I am making another cake at the moment, it’s small enough so we can often eat it in one evening. I am looking forward on getting started with my jigsaws, I make way too little time for them usually.
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #159My Profile

  2. My fiancee’s mom made us an apple cake for Thanksgiving, and she’s German-(has accent which is sooo cool) so it’s made different, but boy is it delicious!! Thats great that you won, I also just won from The Beary merry Holiday hop-$25 Paypal-which I just spent on books..LOL I enjoy stopping by and I read your posts,one of these days I will sign up for a tour, though I don’t have an ereader or twitter. Have a great week!!

    • It’s fun to see how different countries make recipes in a different way. I love apple cakes, they are so yummy.

      I love winning giveaways, it doens’t happen often, but it’s so awesome when you do win. Next gift card I win goes to books again 😉

      I hope you’ll sign-up for a tour once! It’s okay when you don’t have twitter, although most review copies are in e-format, there are also some tours with physical copies.

  3. I loved Staged to Death and I hope that you do to. I am looking forward to seeing what you will do with your ‘get more reviews’ post. Your blog always makes me hungry. You have the yummiest looking food post. Love the look of that cake looks scrumptious!
    SDCB Steph recently posted…Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens AgendaMy Profile

    • I am glad to hear you enjoyed it, I saw your review on goodreads when I was condering it and then saw it was cheap and one clicked it.

      I am a bit nervous for launching my new feature tomorrow with the get more reviews post, but I hope you all will enjoy the new feature.

      I am making that cake again today, it’s so good and easy to make!
      Lola recently posted…Sunday Post #159My Profile

  4. Sounds like a good week all around. New Years Eve was quiet here too and I liked it. Nice way to ring in the new year. The books and puzzles look fun! And I like the cat house in that last cozy cover pic- if I was a cat I’d want one of those. 🙂
    Greg recently posted…Sunday Post #123My Profile

  5. Happy New Year Lola! We stayed home for New Years Eve too and it is nice to have a relaxing celebration. January (Calendar Girl #1) sounds really interesting so I’ll have to check it out. I hope you have a great week and enjoy all your new books =)
    Kathy recently posted…Weekly Wrap-Up #83My Profile

  6. Happy New Year!! So glad you had a good week. I had actually had four days off. I took Monday off to give me a five day weekend last week. Then I had New Year’s Eve, New Year’s Day and the weekend for a total of five days. It was great. I’m almost caught up on reviews. I just couldn’t get my writing flow to work today. I’m more than a week ahead on one blog and two weeks ahead on the other. I love having some padding, so I don’t feel stressed about my posts. Since, I couldn’t seem to focus to write or read today. I just relaxed which was nice. Here’s to a great 2016.
    Melanie Simmons @mlsimmons recently posted…In the Company of Wolves Audiobook by Paige Tyler (REVIEW)My Profile

    • Same here I like to start at the beginning of a series, so I am glad netgalley has some first in the series as well and the other one was pretty cheap and sounded good. I am really in a cozy mystery mood lately and I don’t own a lot of them as I am still pretty new to the genre, so I am tempted to buy a lot of them now.

  7. We didn’t stay up for the New Year, but we did enjoy a five-layer Mexican dip and chips along with a shrimp dip and crackers while watching a couple movies we got for Christmas. I loved not having to go and do stuff even with family. Too tired. LOL

    Glad your work is starting off pretty steady.
    Cool Christmas gifts. I love doing puzzles, but rarely get around to them. Hope the new Amanda Lester books are as good as the first one.

    White Lightning! Yes, that was the name I was trying to think of earlier this week when you asked about the recipes. I planned to go through my Pinterest board to figure it out b/c it was driving me nuts not to remember which one I made. 🙂

    Looks like you got some fun stuff with your gift cards so far.

    Have a good week!
    Sophia Rose recently posted…Oblivion by Jennifer Armentrout #Review #YoungDelightMy Profile

    • Your new year’s eve snacks sound good. We normaly stay up pretty late and it’s almost impossible to sleep ehre whent he fireworks start, although it’s nto as bad as in our previous neighbourhood.

      My work is starting off a bit slow with not tour, but the new marketing assistant work and the review opps do keep me busy.

      I love Hot Lightning, it’s such a weird name for the dish, but I thought translating it directly would work best.
      Lola recently posted…Lola’s Advice: How to get more Reviews for your BookMy Profile

  8. I’m glad you had a relatively relaxing week, Lola. That’s always nice. Congrats on your gifts and gift card win. No, I can’t believe you don’t have measuring spoons 😉 but my grandma’s recipes are always “a little of this” and “a pinch of that” and since I *know* your cooking/baking always turns out good, maybe measuring spoons aren’t that important. 😀 That applecake looks delicious!
    I’m sorry I’ve been MIA lately. Since I was working, I had little time to spend with my family and I chose to spend that little time with them. 🙂 I hope you had a lovely holiday. And Happy 2016!

    • I agree that you can bake perfectly without a measuring, but it would be nice to have some and they where so cheap and brighly coloured I just couldn’t resist. The applecake is so good, I can’t wait to share the recipe with you all.

      Sounds like you had a busy time with your work and I can see why you sped the free time that you have with your family. Although I do hope you still have some time for blogging, I missed you!
      Lola recently posted…Lola’s Advice: How to get more Reviews for your BookMy Profile

    • I never really stopped working, but I did take things a bit more quiet. Since the new year I’ve been focussing a lot on marketing assistant work as january is always a bit slow for tours.
      The apple cake is really good, I’ll share the recipe later this year.

  9. Hey Lola! Happy New Year! <3 I can't believe this year has already passed! It's just so… so.. gah! Hot lightening?? Does it have a kick to it? i imagine with a name like that, it must have some kind of kick to it with a name like lightening ! <3 I'm so glad to have met you this year and I hope to get to know you even better during this year! <3
    Keionda @Keionda Hearts Books recently posted…Anyone Else Want To Just STARE At The Cover?? ^^Wishlist WednesdayMy Profile

  10. Your quiet new years eve is exactly my kind of night. I used to like to go out, but now a night in with the family is best. I’m so glad you have the recipie for the cheesecake planned, it sounds yummy! I have a spring foam pan that I rarely use, it’ll be good to try out. Hope you’re having a great week!
    Berls recently posted…Do you comment back?My Profile

    • I love a quiet new years eve, I never really got out on new year’s eve as I am scared of firework. I hope everyone likes the recipe for the applecake, it’s so good and easy to make :).

  11. Hi Lola – just wanted to say a very belated thank you for mentioning my new book, A SCONE TO DIE FOR, on your blog! 🙂 I’m so pleased you enjoyed it!

    Best wishes,
    Hsin-Yi
    (H.Y. Hanna)

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